To all my Linkedin contacts - could you help?

15 years ago I formed a charity called Promise Dreams to help terminally and seriously ill children. Since then we have raised ￡3 million and helped 1700 very poorly children and their families.

If you are a parent this might resonate with you - Here's the problem.

When we launched the charity, the business I ran covered all of the administration costs. For each transaction we completed, a donation was made to the charity. My PA did all the admin and arranged the dreams so our costs were virtually nil. Our customers seemed to like the fact we were a socially engaged company and the donations were tax deductible. Times were good.

Even as the charity developed, with this chunk of money to cover the business overheads,  we could say to any member of the public that 100% of the money they donated would be used to make a child's dream come true - you know, meet their hero, a last family holiday, specialist equipment, house adaptation etc. How many charities could claim that.

As the charity has grown, (there are now 5 members of staff) and since the credit crunch hit,  fully funding the administrative part of the charity has become more challenging. Thankfully a number of businesses help us out but we are still not back at the point where we can make the "100% of the money you donate" pledge.

Business people really understand the need to fund fixed costs so I am asking all of my business contacts to consider if they could make a small donation for each transaction they do. The first call on such donations would be to cover the overheads. Any surplus would go directly to help make dreams come true.
Currently we can often only part fund dreams due to lack of cash so more is always needed.

I am not seeking a lot of money from a few people. But if a lot of people could give a little it would make a massive difference. Would your business miss ￡20, ￡100, ￡500 per month? Of course that depends on the size of business.

If you have never supported a charity through your business think about how your customers and staff might react. A small donation per transaction, a staff dress down day - at all adds up and could make a massive difference.

Please take a look at this video which shows  how Promise Dreams helps some very sick children and their families - especially if you are a parent yourself.

Meet some of the children we have helped

Promise Dreams needs the help of small and large businesses to help more children and to get back to being one of the few charities which can guarantee that 100% of public donations are used specifically to help people in need. That is our aim.

If you feel your business could help please contact Beverley Bird on: 01902 212451 or via the charity website www.promisedreams.co.uk

Thank you